Sandusky girls drop non-league game to Ashland

SANDUSKY — Better starts and better finishes. For the middle six minutes of the first three quarters, Sandusky was arguably the better team Wednesday. But, Ashland started quicker and finished stronger each time and that spelled doom for the Blue Streaks. Sandusky was behind the 8-ball early as the Arrows came away with a 61-51 non-league win. "Give credit to Ashland," said Sandusky assistant coach Mitch Sweet, who, along with Ta'Sharra Jeffries coached in place of an ill John Winborn. "They came out and played really hard and had a good game plan. They made us do things that we didn't necessarily love to do. They slowed us down a touch. We're definitely a team that likes to get out and go and play fast. We just weren't able to do that at points tonight." The Blue Streaks (2-3) were behind 4-0 early and Ashland (3-3) got a 3 from Grace Tobias at the first quarter buzzer to push Sandusky down 12-8 after one quarter. Things snowballed from there as Kennedy Lacey and Bailey Hartman scored to open the second quarter for Ashland. Sandusky got down as much as 23-13, but made a run at it. Two steals and buckets by Mae Rameau and another from Ra'Kiya Collier brought the Blue Streaks within 23-19. They were still down by four when the Arrows scored last, as a three-point play by Lacey made it 28-21 at halftime. Ashland doubled up as CiCi Steury opened the third quarter scoring with a triple to push the lead to double-digits. The Arrows extended the lead out to 41-28 on a triple from Steury. "I don't know that we boxed out defensively as best as we could," Sweet said. "I think they crashed their offensive boards really well. I give them credit for that. They boxed out a little bit harder and played a little bit harder. At times, they wanted the ball a little bit more. Unfortunately, that's just how it goes." The Blue Streaks went basket for basket from there. Sandusky cut within eight points in the fourth quarter when Rameau scored to make it 56-48. The Blue Streaks got within 57-51 with 1:18 to play when Amari Prentice canned a 3, but it was too late. Sandusky didn't score again as some turnover woes late cost the Blue Streaks. Ashland played a 2-3 zone for most of the game, daring the Blue Streaks to shoot the 3. Sandusky made just 3 of 15 3-pointers with all three makes coming from Prentice. "We've always said our defense leads to points," Sweet said. "Because they played in that 2-3, it didn't let us get out in transition. We knew the 2-3 was coming and we worked on it in practice. We just didn't execute at times. We haven't seen a ton of 2-3 zone, but we do work on it every day. We rep it all the time." That also limited Sandusky's trips to the foul line. The Blue Streaks attempted just one free throw — by Maekhiya Rameau on an and-1 in the fourth quarter. "We're trying to cut and we're trying to attack," Sweet said. "I think that's what we didn't do a very good job of either. We didn't play downhill enough. Our guards did not attack the basket like we would have liked to have seen. We know we can drive and kick." Collier paced Sandusky with 18 points. The Blue Streaks (0-1 SBC Lake) face Perkins (2-3, 0-0) in league action Friday. "For us, we've got to work on our half-court sets," Sweet said. "We've got to get better at our half-court offenses. I think that will allow us to be successful in some of these bigger games coming up." ASHLAND (3-3)Grace Tobias 3 0-0 7, Kennedy Lacey 9 3-7 21, Lauren Green 1 0-0 2, Brylyn Mottayaw 3 0-2 6, Josie Vantilburg 4 1-1 10, Bailey Hartman 1 0-0 2, Cici Steury 3 4-6 12. TOTALS 24 8-16 61SANDUSKY (2-3)Mae Rameau 3 0-0 6, Maddie Peugeot 2 0-0 4, Ra'Kiya Collier 9 0-0 18, Maekhiya Rameau 5 0-1 10, Shauntha Wilson 1 0-0 2, Amari Prentice 4 0-0 11. TOTALS 24 0-1 51Ashland 12 16 16 17 - 61Sandusky 8 13 13 17 - 51Three-point goals: Ashland 5 (Steury 3, Tobias, Vantiburg); Sandusky 3 (Prentice 3)